Hello everyone,

I know Reddit probably isn't the best place to make a decision like this, but I am having such a hard time with my bathroom renovation that I am genuinely struggling with it and even having panic attacks. I am hoping to hear from people who have actually lived with these types of bathrooms for several years.

I’ll divide this into “About Me” and “Questions.” Sorry for the long post!

About Me

This is a very expensive renovation for me. I live in a co-op apartment, so I feel like I cannot afford to make a mistake and then simply redo everything if I end up regretting my choices. I saved for a very long time to be able to do this, and money is scarce.

Unfortunately, the bathroom really does need to be renovated. The tiles are falling off, and I cannot even use the bathtub right now.

I absolutely love a vintage Victorian/prewar bathroom look. I have always loved subway tile on the walls and small mosaic tile floors. Honestly, the smaller the floor tile, the more I like it.

I would love to use marble, but I know it can be more difficult to maintain, and I worry about staining, etching, and how it will look years from now.

Because of that, I decided against marble and originally wanted a small mosaic porcelain floor with subway tile walls. However, after getting advice from other people, I started considering an 8-inch floor tile with subway tile walls instead.

Here is where I am stuck.

Whenever I show my ideas to people I know, some people appreciate the Victorian/vintage look, but most do not really prefer it. More importantly, most people keep telling me to choose larger tiles because they believe all the grout with small mosaic tile will be a nightmare to clean and maintain. I work about 50 hours every week, so I realistically do not have the time to spend hours scrubbing grout, and I cannot afford to hire someone to clean the bathroom for me.

Now I am second-guessing everything.

I am worried that even though I genuinely love the prewar/Victorian look, dirty, stained, or discolored grout could eventually ruin the entire bathroom. And if that happens, I keep wondering what the point is of choosing the style I actually love.

At the same time, I want to make choices that will hold up well and hopefully add value when I eventually sell the apartment. I just cannot picture myself putting a cold, large-format, modern tile bathroom into my prewar apartment. It would feel completely wrong for the character of the place.

I am honestly getting very overwhelmed because I feel like there is no perfect answer.

Questions

For those of you who have installed a small mosaic floor with subway tile walls, or even an 8-inch floor tile with subway tile walls:

Do you regret your choice?

How has the grout held up over the years? Do you wish you had gone with larger tiles instead?

And if you love the smaller mosaic look, how difficult is it really to keep clean?

I would especially love to hear from people who have actually lived with this type of bathroom for several years, rather than general advice about what is simply “easier.”

I am a clean person and would obviously maintain the bathroom, but I also understand that grout requires maintenance. I am particularly worried about staining, discoloration, mold, and how everything will look 10 or 20 years from now.

I want to make a decision that I will still be happy with long-term.

Has anyone else been in this exact situation? Did you choose the smaller mosaic because you loved the look, or did you go with larger tile for practical reasons? Most importantly, how do you feel about that decision now?

Thank you to anyone willing to share their experience.